‘She admitted that it was he who’d put her up to renting a big house from us with false references. She said that he’d asked her to pay the deposit herself – she’d plenty of money in her current account – but she’d refused, so he’d promised to transfer money into her account, to cover it. She was too trusting. She gave him her bank details.
‘Given that he’d asked her for money once and been refused, I think he tried her again last night, and when she refused for the second time, he killed her. Once she was dead, he had until her body was discovered to empty her bank account.’
‘Is he that cold-blooded? It’s hard to understand.’
‘So are the bruises on the backs of the boys’ legs. They went to their mother willingly enough. She must know about the bruises, mustn’t she? How can she bear to let the boys visit him?’
‘It sounds as if she’s between the devil and the deep blue sea. Does she have a job? What are the outgoings on the house she occupies? Didn’t you say he put the boys into private education? Is she frightened of him? Perhaps she knows but is too frightened to say anything.’
He turned into their driveway and parked. There was only one other car there now; probably the Party Planner’s. Something or somebody dodged behind the car, and Ellie put her hand to her heart. ‘What was that?’
‘What?’
‘Not sure. A man hiding behind that car?’
Thomas went to look. Bushes rustled and shook. A figure broke out of them and ran off down the road. Thomas laughed. ‘Someone caught short, perhaps, thinking our shrubbery offered a refuge? Which reminds me, I’ll scrub that car seat out now before I forget.’
Ellie looked up at the front of the house and wondered what scenes of wedding preparation and chaos it might be concealing from the public gaze. The windows of the house seemed to wink back at her – recently cleaned, thank goodness – and she thought they might be saying, perhaps a little wearily, that they’d seen it all before, but would still be there at the end of the day.
She was grateful for this reminder; her worries looked trivial compared to the hundred or so years that this house had already seen.
One thing was for sure, she was never going to host another wedding reception here. Far too much aggro.
She let herself into the hall and had to fall back to avoid being trampled underfoot by a screaming mob. Someone pushed past her, yelling. A pile of boxes was knocked into by another person, and rocked dangerously till a third person pushed it back upright. A streak of ginger flew from the top of the grandfather clock and landed on a bridal archway of entwined summer jasmine and ivy, which sank in the middle and was only saved from crashing to the floor by the cat taking another leap on to a pile of tables, which then did slid sideways with a crash, followed to the floor by a stack of chairs.
Midge cannoned off Ellie’s legs and bolted out of the front door and down the drive, ears flattened to head, tail bushed out to twice its normal size.
‘Midge!’ The cat vanished.
Ellie called over him, but he wasn’t listening. Would he be run over? He didn’t usually go out of the front door, did he?
Thomas, cleaning rags in hand, emerged from his car, spotted Midge’s tail disappearing into the road and started off after him. Only to return, shaking his head. ‘He’ll be back when he’s calmed down. What set him off?’
‘I don’t know.’
There was a babble of sound indoors. ‘Have you got it?’
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to push you, but—’
‘Help her up! Are you hurt badly?’
‘Oh, it’s bleeding.’
Ellie took a deep breath, and went into the hall. She didn’t get far, since her way was barred by cardboard boxes full of plants in full bloom. The mob reduced itself to Mr Balls, the Party Planner and his two slaves, plus Rose, who was sitting on the lowest stair, holding her wrist. And Mia, wide-eyed and breathing hard. The slaves looked the worse for wear. Over the banister came the heads of two of the cleaning team, eyes and mouths wide, who were supposed to be turning out the bedrooms in readiness for Saturday.
Mr Balls leaned against the newel post, wiping his brow with care so as not to disturb his toupee. One of his slaves was checking out the bloodied elbow of the other. Mia wept, sucking a cut finger.
Rose saw Ellie first, and got to her feet at the second attempt. ‘So sorry, such a madhouse, I don’t know what got into that cat, but he’s been growling and getting in our way ever since the parcel arrived—’
‘What parcel?’
‘Can we help?’ asked one of the cleaners, half way down the stairs.
Ellie waved her away. ‘No, thanks. It’s all right. You get on with what you were doing.’ The cleaner withdrew with some reluctance. She didn’t come across this much excitement every day.
Rose said, ‘A wedding present for Ursula. Honest, we did our very best, but we don’t even know who it’s from, so how ever is she going to thank them for it?’
‘I’ll get a dustpan and brush,’ said Mia, drying her eyes. ‘It was an accident. I’ll tell her. She won’t create, I’m sure she won’t.’
‘It might have come from his side of the family though,’ said Rose, brushing herself down. ‘They might get upset, think we were careless, though goodness knows we put it in a safe place on the table next to the telephone, and when Midge knocked it off there we put it high up on that little ledge outside the cloakroom where you wouldn’t think he could get at it, but somehow he did, and hooked it down and it smashed on the edge of that stack of chairs.’
‘Never mind,’ said Mia, returning with dustpan and brush. ‘It wasn’t anyone’s fault, and Mr Balls and his assistants were really wonderful and I’ll make it all right with Ursula, just you wait and see.’
‘Dear Mrs Quicke.’ Mr Balls puffed and panted. ‘What a scene to greet your return, when really we were right on target, everything going well except for the shortage of cables but that will be put right tomorrow, I do assure you.’
Ellie felt rather faint. ‘Yes, of course. But what about your wounded soldier?’
‘It’s nothing,’ muttered the wilting female slave.
‘Let me look,’ said Rose. ‘Oh, I’ll just run it under the tap and then put a plaster on it. Naughty, naughty Midge. No dinner for him tonight.’
Mia bent over the mess on the floor, looking as if she might cry again.
Ellie took the dustpan and brush off her. ‘Go and attend to that cut on your finger. I’ll deal with this. We may find a label inside the package that will tell us who it’s from.’
The parcel had been inexpertly wrapped in a layer of coloured tissue paper which looked as if it had been used before, and which hadn’t proved to be much protection for the glass dish within. Ellie couldn’t see any label, though she turned the mess over and over by pulling on the paper with her fingertips, once she’d got it into the dustpan. Something squishy and pink clung to the tissue paper.
‘Who would send newly-weds an old-fashioned moulded glass dish?’ Ellie wondered. ‘Someone of the older generation, perhaps? Not even cut glass. Well, I suppose we must put it safely into some sort of container and keep it for Ursula to see. Perhaps she can make a guess as to who might have sent it. I’ll find something with a lid on it in the kitchen.’
Mr Balls fanned himself with his clipboard. ‘Dear lady, you are efficiency itself, and no great harm done, except to my nervous system. So, shall we have a quick run through what we have achieved today and what still needs to be done tomorrow?’
Ellie gestured with the dustpan. ‘As soon as I’ve got rid of this. We don’t want any more blood shed, do we?’
She took the sticky mess out to the kitchen, where Rose was busy putting a plaster on one of the slave’s elbows. Ellie rummaged in the cupboard where she kept plastic boxes with lids from the freezer, and found an old ice cream carton which would do.
‘Now where shall we put it? In a cupboard where Midge can’t get at it?’
‘In the larder. He
can’t manage that door knob.’ Mia opened the door for Ellie and followed her down the two steps into a narrow, tiled room with a stone shelf running along one side of it, which had served the house well as a cold store before the advent of refrigerators. In old Miss Quicke’s day, there had still been a meat safe at one end, with a mesh front to keep the flies out, but this had long been banished, and new shelves fitted to house Rose’s fabled collection of chutneys and jams.
Mia took the box off Ellie, and opened the lid. ‘I just want to . . .’ She poked at a wodge of pink with one finger, and let out a hiss. ‘It wasn’t meant for Ursula. It was meant for me.’
Ellie took a closer look at the mess. ‘What makes you think that?’ She smelt it, and spotted a mass of blue speckles in the pink. ‘Ah.’
Mia shivered, but didn’t break down. ‘That pink stuff is coconut ice. I used to love it, in the old days. But this doesn’t smell right to me. What about those blue granules? What do you make of them?’
‘They remind me of something, but I can’t think what.’
‘Something used to kill mice? We had mice at Prior Place one summer, and I seem to remember the man putting down some blue granules which the mice were supposed to eat. He made sure we had no pets around the place first. I think there’s something nasty in that block of sweet stuff, and that Midge knew.’
Ellie put the lid back on the box and dropped it into a large crock which had been used in the second world war to house eggs pickled in isinglass, and which Rose occasionally used to keep bread fresh.
Mia replaced the lid on the crock and smiled at Ellie. ‘Not to worry. I’m not going to faint or anything. In fact, you don’t need to worry about me any more. I’ve done all the agonizing I’m going to do, and somehow all the fear has gone. For good, I hope. What happened before is all in the past. I’ll probably continue to have nightmares for a bit, but one day, maybe, I’ll even be able to sleep properly without waking up every half hour to make sure I’m not still in my old room with men coming at me to . . . No, no. That’s all in the past. At the moment I seem to be bearing a charmed life, what with cars missing me by a fraction and poisonous sweets meeting a sticky end. Long may it last.’
‘Indeed.’ Ellie looked at her watch. ‘It’s a bit late to ring the police tonight. I’ll do it in the morning. What a pity that Detective Inspector Willis is on leave. She left all details of your case with a Detective Constable who seems reasonably bright, but perhaps not quite up to dealing with something like this. And now, let’s find a plaster for that finger of yours.’
THURSDAY EVENING. . .
It was a juggling act. The money he’d downloaded into his account would stave off trouble for a while, but the school fees for the autumn were still outstanding. He cursed the day he’d committed himself to a year’s fees. If only . . . He ground his teeth.
If only the stupid woman had agreed to lend him what he needed. He’d said he could pay her back, but she wouldn’t have it. So he’d had to wipe her out, hadn’t he? She’d given him no choice.
It wasn’t enough by a long chalk. Now, how to get to the target? Perhaps there’d be an opportunity tomorrow. And if not, he’d make one. He was not going to be beaten by a woman.
THIRTEEN
Thursday evening
Mia’s smile flickered and went out. ‘It’s stopped bleeding already, see? I don’t want you to keep on worrying about me. I’m all right, really I am.’
There was a new serenity about her. It might not last, but it was there. It was amazing that the girl hadn’t buckled under the knowledge of yet another attack on her life. Perhaps in the future there would be less despair and more hope in her life.
‘I’m so pleased,’ said Ellie, and meant it.
Mia gave Ellie an awkward, hasty hug. Perhaps the first time she’d touched someone of her own accord for months? ‘It seemed for a long time as if the world was full of nasty creepy-crawlies, but you showed me there are still good people around. You and Thomas and Rose; and Ursula, of course. And Ursula’s Sam. You used to call him Hawkface, didn’t you? It’s a good name for him. I don’t suppose I’ll ever meet anyone like that, and I wouldn’t have been right for him, anyway, even before . . . even before.’
‘Some day you’ll meet someone who is right for you.’ Banal words, but it was what every woman wanted, wasn’t it?
‘Oh, I don’t think so. I don’t suppose I’ll ever get married and have children, now. But as Thomas says, the fact that I’m still alive is something of a miracle, and I’m happy to wait and see what God wants me to do next.’
‘Well, that’s good.’ Inadequate words to express a deep thankfulness.
Mia turned on her brilliant smile. ‘It’s you we ought to be worrying about now. Are your cuts and bruises hurting you? You look as if you could do with some of the tender loving care you’ve been giving me.’
There is nothing better calculated to make you feel weak and tottery than someone saying you don’t look your best. All of a sudden Ellie realized she did indeed feel in need of a soothing cuppa and something to eat, plus a shower or a long deep bath with plenty of Radox in it. ‘I’m fine,’ she said. Of course. ‘Now, what about Mr Balls and his team, and those plants in the hall?’
Where was Midge? How far might he have gone in his flight? Would he be able to find his way back, once he’d stopped running?
Mia led the way back to the hall. Ellie peered out of the front door to see if Midge had returned, but he hadn’t.
The two women looked at the muddle of furniture and plants which had been left in the hall and quailed.
Mia said, ‘The thing was that the furniture came first thing and wasn’t too much in the way, but then the florist arrived just as the electricians were doing something important, traipsing backwards and forwards through the house. They didn’t want anyone crossing their path, so Mr Balls said the delivery people could put the plants down wherever they could find a space, and we’d put them into place later. Which I suppose means now.’
Mr Balls emerged from the conservatory at this moment, trailing his two slaves after him. ‘It is not our job to move furniture. No. Nor to attend to the floral displays. But, in view of the circumstances, we will set aside our own feelings to save the day.’
He stood in front of the bridal arch which had collapsed under the weight of Midge’s dive to freedom and now looked like a capital ‘M’. He sighed deeply. Then recovered to demand, ‘Strong wire! Pliers! At the double!’
His two slaves scurried to obey him, and with a heave from him, and some nifty work from the two slaves, the arch was coaxed into resuming its former shape and dragged to stand before the doors into the conservatory. It looked stunning, and no one would guess how nearly it had been wrecked.
The cleaners streamed downstairs, demanding that Ellie approve what they’d been doing. She went back upstairs with them, to find everything fresh and clean . . . and that all her toiletries had been removed from her dressing table and bathroom, and stowed away. She didn’t have many aids to beauty, but what she had she’d need, wouldn’t she? Oh well, she supposed she could put up with it for a couple of days.
Was Midge back yet? As Ellie let the cleaners out, she went out to the road to call his name. No cat.
She returned to face Mr Balls, who didn’t want comments; only admiration. She was, in fact, very willing to give it to him, because he really was an artist in his way. The florist had supplied a dozen gardenia plants which he proposed to arrange on the staging in the conservatory. They looked stunning, and the perfume was almost too much to bear.
Thomas appeared to add his words of commendation, but shortly made his escape, decoration not being precisely his thing.
The marquee was a revelation. Ellie stepped from the conservatory directly into a big tent. There was a small stage immediately to the left, beyond that there was an exit leading to the kitchen quarters, and beyond that a long table for drinks. Chairs and tables stood around in huddles to be put into their final places
on the morrow.
Mr Balls and his team departed and quiet descended upon the house.
Ellie couldn’t rest, but wandered around. The dining and living rooms looked strange with most of the usual furniture removed. Her footsteps resounded on the polished but uncarpeted floors. At least their old settee and the television had been left in its usual place, so they could watch something that evening.
At supper time Ellie went to call Thomas out from his study.
His sanctum had not remained unscathed as he had hoped it might, since his stereo and various small items from the lounge and dining room had come to rest in and around his desk.
She said, ‘I’m worried about Midge.’
Thomas switched off his computer and rubbed his eyes. ‘I’ve got a bit behindhand today. Don’t let me forget the wedding rehearsal tomorrow evening. I think I’d better go straight to the church from my afternoon meeting, which is up in town. Do you think Mia can get to the church under her own steam, or will you take her?’
‘She seems a lot better, much calmer, but she hasn’t been out of the house since Monday, so I’d better take her. We’ll get a cab to the church, ask the driver to wait through the rehearsal and afterwards it can bring us all back here.’
‘No need for that. I’ll have my car with me and can bring us all back afterwards. As for Midge, he’ll come back when he’s hungry.’
Well, Midge wasn’t his cat, was he? Ellie went on worrying about him.
Somehow or other, despite all the interruptions the kitchen had experienced that day, Rose and Mia had contrived a tasty supper of gammon steaks with apple sauce, new potatoes and fresh beans, followed by a chocolate and orange soufflé which was a total delight.
Rose, however, seemed abstracted, and eventually burst out with what was worrying her. ‘Ellie, I know you’re a really big businesswoman nowadays and of course I don’t know the first thing about that sort of thing, but Miss Quicke caught me in the conservatory just now and asked me to give you a message.’
Murder by Mistake Page 16
